HijackThis: The Ultimate Malware Removal Tool for Nerds

Yea... honestly i dont know the audience for this website and maybe my assumption is wrong. But I honestly think that hijack this is even a little too advanced for most seasoned windows users. It gives you alot of information that there is absolutely no way you would know how to interpret unless you have been using hijack this and helping people through the process for a while. The standard method of using that program so you dont royally jack up one of your important windows files is to get a log file from the program and then upload the log to a hijack this approved board where another person who knows what to look for will inspect it for you and advise you of what might need to be addressed. I wouldnt mess with the stuff in there any other way. At one point I attempted to use a database to see what all the different stuff meant but with 50+ entries that can take a day. Good luck if you have malware... you may want to try what I learned to do. Install a fresh windows, instantly back the thing up to an USB drive and keep that safe for the day you need to reinstall windows again. Anymore it seems easier to start fresh than to try to fix a problem already set in your system.

personally if your computer is so corrupted with Malware & Viruses. I would think you would be better off Reinstalling your O.S. system. Which should be done at least once a year anyway. Even if your computer is not infected over time your O.S. files get Corrupted.

I've used Hijack this for years and it is an awesome program. One just has to make sure theyre familiar with whats on their computer before messing with or deleting anything.

I concur with seawitch1313. I would suggest that you merely write down the access link to Highjack this and keep it for future reference/use. You don't use it anyway unless there is a perceivable problem, but when you need it...like getting rid of Beacon...then you can download it. You may download it now and print out a report, then delete it from your computer, but write the site address on the report for the next time.

ACTUALLY, if the computer companies and microsoft would support their programs better, instead of charging $40. to fix THEIR programs in the first place, things would be much better...but they are not going to do that...are they?

I am an above average user. Have been aware of HiJack This for years. Luckily have never had to use it.
I have gone one step further than suggested by Kenneth. I have downloaded and saved Hijack This to both DVD and a USB drive. I also update the saved program regularly..
This was suggested to me years ago by afriend who was into malware removal.
Depending on what has infected the computer, you may not be able to access the internet and you want to isolate the infected computer from your netwowork and the internet to keep it from spreading.
It can take days.

Reinstalling the OS is usually faster, but if you don't have a saved back up of the whole drive it can take up to more than 20 hours. That is how long it took to help a friend redo his 3 year old Vista with no backups.. Luckily I have discs with SP1 and SP2, but removing the junk and reinstalling the updates since SP2 and all the 50+ programs he had still takes time.

In my experience, having taken the time to just read each line and gotten used to the divisions, I did in fact kill a very few problems, but no more than that. Instead, did you know there are web sites with experts (I have no credentials from them to prove this) who receive from people an email copy of the Hijack report and ask for a review. If they have perceived problems these are listed in the request, and the 'expert' asks any pertinent questions and points out the more obvious problems or directs the user to other experts on certain items. This is all returned to the user,with the admonition that the responsibilty for checking off the apparently offending items is theirs. I am sure there have been mistakes, but the posts I have read on the sites were favorable.

Anyone with half a brain knows that the best way to deal with stubborn virus
is to do a format and reinstall, because no matter what you use there is always
traces left behind.
I have used Hijack this before and would rather use System mechanic, much better tool for cleaning up the PC.
Just remember that any tool you use to scan your PC if not a virus scanner poses a threat to your system..........

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